Western Canada

Photo by rpongsaj
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pong/172397646/

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by gripso_banana_prune on flickr.com

Photo Taken By: PhillipC http://flickr.com/photos/flissphil/7286826/

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Western Canada inlcudes four great provinces including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These four provinces have lots of information to be found about them and this post gives you a glimpse of some of the geographical features of each of these provinces.

British Columbia:
When looking for the province of British Columbia one would want to look on the west coast of Canada. British Columbia is actually the third largest province and the province that is furthest west. The west coast of British Columbia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean giving this province vast amounts of water access. British Columbia has many islands off it's coast one being Vancouver Island. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and is located on Vancouver Island. British Columbia has a population of over 4.2 million people from a census in 2005. The northwest coast of British Columbia is the home to many natives. British Columbia is a common place for immigrants to come since they have about 35,000 immigrants arrive each year from all around the world. The most important industries to this province are mining, fisheries, agriculture, energy, transportation, and forestry. The Land regions in British columbia consists of a large belt of mountain ranges. Cordillera is the name isued to describe this large area of mountains. British Columbia is broken up into six main land regions consisting of the Insular Mountains, the Lower Fraser Valley, the Coast Mountains, the Interior Plateau, the Eastern Mountains and the Transmontane Plains. The majority of rivers in British Columbia drain into the Pacific Ocean. The famous Columbia River can also be found in British Columbia and eventually flows into Washington. This is a slight run down of the main aspects of British Columbia's geography. See website below for a clear map.

http://www.canadamaps.info/maps/britishcolumbiapoliticalmap.jpg

Sources:
http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/canada/facts/bc.html
"British Columbia: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998.

Alberta:
Alberta is located in Western Canada to the east of British Columbia and to the west of Sasketchewan. The capital of this province is Edmonton, another major city being Calgary. The population in Alberta is around 3,306,000 people. The Rocky Mountains are one of Alberta's most unique features. Although, the areas that are not covered in the beautiful mountain ranges are made of great plains or prairies. Most plains are thought of as extremely flat chunks of land but that isn't the case in Alberta due to glaciers that once covered the land. Not only does Alberta have the prescence of mountains, the badlands are also located in Alberta. This is another uinque feature to this province. These badlands can be found in the southeast region of Alberta. The two largest lakes in Alberta are Lake Claire and Lake Athabasca, some important rivers include the Peace River and the Athabasca River. The source to these two main rivers can be found in the Rockies and flow north into the Artic Ocean. Alberta has four main land regions including the Candian Shield, the Saskatchewan Plain, the Alberta Plain, and the Rocky Mountains and foothills. See website below for a map of Alberta.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/b7/750x750_alberta2_m.gif

Sources:
http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm?Page=8
"Alberta: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998.

Saskatchewan:
The province of Saskatchewan is the fifth largest province in Canada. This province can be found east of Alberta and west of Manitoba. The capital of Saskatchewan is Regina and another major city in the area is Saskatoon. The population of Saskatchewan is nearing 989,000 people. This interesting province is made up of a lot of plains. The name "Saskatchewan" comes from a Cree word that means "swift flowing water." This creative name refers to the great river in Saskatchewan called the South Saskatchewan river that has been an extremely influential waterway throughout history. The other main river is the Saskatchewan River which is made of waters frmo the Rocky Mountains that are in Alberta. This province doesn't have many rivers and lakes of great importance although those two are very important for the people of Canada for various reasons. The land of Saskatchewan is divided into four main land regions including the Canadian Shield, the Manitoba Lowland, the Saskatchewan Plain, and the Alberta Plain. Click the link below to see a visual of Saskatchewan:

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/40/750x750_saskatchewan_m.gif

Sources:
http://interactive.usask.ca/ski/factfig/geography.html
"Saskatchewan: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998.

Manitoba:
Manitoba is another province located in Western Canada, although it the eastern most province in that region. Manitoba's neighbor to the west is Saskatchewan and to the east is Ontario. To the north they have Nunavut and their northeast shoreline is the industrious Hudson Bay. The capital of Manitoba is Winnipeg which is located in the southern portion of Manitoba. The population of Manitoba is about 1,179,700 people. This province is divided into four main land regions including the Hudson Bay Lowland, the Canadian Shield, the Manitoba Lowland, and the Saskatchewan Plain. The Manitoba Escarpment is a term used to describe the Duck, Procupine, and Riding Mountain ranges that are all located in Manitoba. Manitoba has many lakes within its province resulting in about 100,000 of them. The two largest lakes are Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis. Three main rivers including the Red, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg flow into Lake Winnipeg causing the lake to be a delta for some major rivers. See map below to learn more about Manitoba's location:

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/aa/750x750_manitoba_m.gif

Sources:
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0859466.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (for all flag images)
"Manitoba: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998.

In 2010 the whole world will shift its focus to Vancouver where the greatest winter athletes will gather to compete in the event. “The venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games stretch over a 120-kilometre zone from the shores of Richmond, just south of Vancouver, through Vancouver’s downtown centre north to the snowy peaks of the mountain resort of Whistler. (Vancouver 2010)” The events include skiing, snowboarding, luge, bobsled, curling, speed skating, ice skating, and of course ice hockey.
Men and women’s hockey will be hosted at the University of British Columbia’s future Sports Center, shown below.

The building is under construction currently and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008. For more information check out http://www.ubc.edu.
Many of the on-snow events will take place at the Whistler Mountain, which is also undergoing construction to prepare for the events. Whistler is known for having some of the best skiing and riding in the pacific northwest and for being a great travel destination.

Photo by Kim Mo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinglavida/64598599/

Vancouver, being a very cultural city, is an ideal place for the games to be held. Montreal hosted the summer Olympics in 1976 and Calgary hosted the winter Olympics in 1988. 2010 will be the third time Canada hosts the Olympics, and certainly not the last time.

Sources of Info:
http://olympic.org
http://vancouver2010.com